Results for: swpmtx=f1ec47ba971ba6680240a258b5fc91e3&swpmtxnonce=44d0b5b827/21/&opera-house
509 Main Street
Genoa

, OH

The Village of Genoa and Clay Township agreed to construct a joint township and village hall in Genoa in 1884. The firm Findley & Shively of Fremont designed the hall in the High Victorian Gothic architectural style and Woodville’s Fred Sandwisch was contracted to build the hall for $8,860. In 1890, the Sandusky Register declared that Genoa could “boast of having one of the finest town halls of any village of its size in Ohio.” As a seat of government and an auditorium (“opera house”), the hall hosted village and township meetings, Memorial Day services, school graduations, community events, and theatrical productions. The hall also had a jail and served as a municipal garage. By early 1970s, the auditorium had been condemned and the future of the structure was uncertain. (Continued on other side)

1720 King Avenue
Kings Mills

, OH

Built of bricks of clay from the Little Miami River, the King Mansion has stood majestically overlooking the town of Kings Mills since 1885. The home of industrialist Ahimaaz King and the first house in Kings Mills, this 12-room, three-story Italianate-style house is crowned with a widow’s walk and features stained-glass windows, distinctive fireplaces, and a tack room. The carriage house included a milking operation for cows on the lower level, stables on the main level, and carriage storage on the upper level. A cast iron fountain in the yard gave the name “Fountain Square” to the area. Occupied by three generations of Kings until 1988, the mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008 and is a reminder of Ahimaaz King’s importance to the history of Kings Mills.

Across from 540 Bacon Avenue
East Palestine

, OH

This circa 1840s log house, which now serves as a museum and home to the East Palestine Historical Society, was originally located at the corner of West Main and Walnut Streets. Some of its most notable and earliest residents were Dr. Robert Chamberlin (1798-1876), the town’s first resident physician, and his wife Rebecca (1810-1895). Chamberlin practiced medicine for 30 years, serving the town as a township trustee in 1834, the first postmaster in 1836, and township clerk in 1839. (Continued on other side)

9 Edison Drive
Milan

, OH

One of America’s most prolific and important inventors, Thomas Alva Edison was born in this house in 1847. Designed by his father, Samuel Edison, a shingle maker by trade, this small gabled brick cottage was built in 1841. Though the Edisons moved to Port Huron, Michigan, in 1854, when he was seven, Edison cherished the memories of his early boyhood here and acquired the home from his sister’s family in 1906. Edison’s daughter Madeleine Edison Sloane opened the home to the public as a memorial to the great inventor in 1947, the centennial of his birth. It became a registered National Historic Landmark in 1965.

23 E Main Street
Canfield

, OH

The Canfield War Vet Museum was chartered in 1988 by American Legion Post 177 and Ladies Auxiliary to collect and preserve items and history from American wars. The building that houses the museum was built in 1809 by Comfort S. Mygatt, a Revolutionary War veteran, and later, passed through several generations of the Church family. Colonel James Madison Nash, a Civil War officer, lived here for a time, giving the house its nickname, “The Colonel’s House.” The structure stands as the oldest building in Canfield on its original site. The carding barn on the rear of the property was built in 1810 to process sheep wool. The Wall of Honor at this site honors war veterans, in particular, the Revolutionary War veterans interred in Canfield cemeteries and the 18 Canfield men who lost their lives in World War II.

325 East Iron Ave
Dover

, OH

Jeremiah Reeves was born in England in 1845 and began his career in the mills of Wales, United Kingdom, at the age of ten. In 1867, he immigrated to the United States where he worked in the steel mills of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He met his wife Jane Rees in the latter place and they married in 1869. In 1883, Reeves acquired a steel rolling mill in Dover for $14,000. Despite a history of financial difficulties, the Reeves Iron Works would go on to expand several times and employ over 800 men. The iron works and later the Reeves Manufacturing Company established Dover as an industrial center during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

141 Winder Street
North Lewisburg

, OH

Among the earliest settlers to Rush Township were members of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, who emigrated from the eastern states, mostly Pennsylvania and North Carolina. At first religious services were held in the homes of devout Quakers who in turn built a small-framed meeting house on this site in 1842. The present Friends Church replaced the original structure in the 1870s at a cost of $4,245. Although not a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church supported local ardent Abolitionists who helped runaway slaves reach freedom in Canada. An epidemic during the winter of 1850-1851 reduced the Friends’ membership and led to several Quaker families relocating to Iowa. The final religious service was held here on October 26, 1997, after which the church was donated to the village of North Lewisburg.

66 E. Broad Street
Pataskala

, OH

Born in New Jersey, Richard and Sarah Conine, the founders of the village of Pataskala, moved to Lima Township and lived on this site as early as 1821 when Richard established a grist mill nearby. Their homestead also served as a stagecoach stop on the mud pike between Columbus and Newark prior to the coming of the railroad. Richard platted “Conine Town” south and west of here in 1851, and the town was renamed Pataskala soon after. The public-spirited Conines contributed to the building of several area schools and churches and donated land for the Pataskala Cemetery. After their deaths, Sarah’s nephew Jacob Van Dorn inherited the property. John Hawley purchased the home in 1887 and for many years it was known as “The Hawley House.” It was demolished in 1964 to make way for commercial development.